天津市大气能见度与颗粒物污染的关系

利用天津市大气边界层观测站2009年能见度、相对湿度、风速逐时观测资料和2009年3月9~21日期间颗粒物的膜采样数据,分析天津市大气能见度与颗粒物污染的关系.结果表明,颗粒物质量浓度与能见度变化总体呈负相关,小粒径颗粒对能见度的影响作用明显,随着能见度的降低,小粒径颗粒与大粒径颗粒浓度的比值明显增加.能见度与颗粒物中总碳质量浓度变化呈负相关. SO42-,NO3-,OC和EC对大气消光贡献平均值分别为28.7%,6.1%,27.6%和19.2%.表明观测期间颗粒物中SO42-,OC对能见度的影响明显.     

水质基准方法学中若干关键技术探讨

我国正在开展系统的水质基准研究,对发达国家的水质基准理论和技术处于学习和研究阶段. 物种敏感度分布分析、“最少毒性数据需求”以及基准的修正是水质基准推算中的若干关键技术. 以氨氮水生生物基准为例,对这些关键技术进行了研究与探讨,提出在我国本土生物毒性数据缺乏的情况下可在种的水平上对水质基准进行推算. 另外,可先利用全部生物的毒性数据进行物种敏感度分析,确定需重点获取的敏感生物类群的毒性数据,再用于基准推算,有望降低推算过程中对毒性数据量的需求. 最后,基于中美生物物种分布的差异,借鉴美国修订国家水质基准的水效应比法,提出利用生物效应比法对美国国家水质基准进行修订以获取我国水质基准.      

Comparison of four measuring techniques to assess growth inhibition in standardized tests with seven freshwater algae and cyanobacteria

As representatives of primary producers, algae and cyanobacteria play an important role in assessing the risk of chemicals. However, the list of standard algal species commonly used for toxicity testing comprises very few species so that there is an urgent demand to identify further non-standard species which can be used for higher-tier risk assessment in general and the analysis of species sensitivity distributions in particular. In this study, four measuring techniques to assess growth inhibition were compared using five non-standard and two standard algal species and 3,5-dichlorophenol as reference substance. Regarding sensitivity and suitability, the measuring techniques were ranked in the following descending order: delayed fluorescence, prompt fluorescence, photometric absorbance, and microscopic cell count. All five non-standard species fulfilled the validity criteria if tested with delayed fluorescence.     

China's endemic vertebrates sheltering under the protective umbrella of the giant panda

The giant panda attracts disproportionate conservation resources. How well does this emphasis protect other endemic species? Detailed data on geographical ranges are not available for plants or invertebrates, so we restrict our analyses to 3 vertebrate taxa: birds, mammals, and amphibians. There are gaps in their protection, and we recommend practical actions to fill them. We identified patterns of species richness, then identified which species are endemic to China, and then which, like the panda, live in forests. After refining each species' range by its known elevational range and remaining forest habitats as determined from remote sensing, we identified the top 5% richest areas as the centers of endemism. Southern mountains, especially the eastern Hengduan Mountains, were centers for all 3 taxa. Over 96% of the panda habitat overlapped the endemic centers. Thus, investing in almost any panda habitat will benefit many other endemics. Existing panda national nature reserves cover all but one of the endemic species that overlap with the panda's distribution. Of particular interest are 14 mammal, 20 bird, and 82 amphibian species that are inadequately protected. Most of these species the International Union for Conservation of Nature currently deems threatened. But 7 mammal, 3 bird, and 20 amphibian species are currently nonthreatened, yet their geographical ranges are <20,000 km² after accounting for elevational restriction and remaining habitats. These species concentrate mainly in Sichuan, Yunnan, Nan Mountains, and Hainan. There is a high concentration in the east Daxiang and Xiaoxiang Mountains of Sichuan, where pandas are absent and where there are no national nature reserves. The others concentrate in Yunnan, Nan Mountains, and Hainan. Here, 10 prefectures might establish new protected areas or upgrade local nature reserves to national status.     

纳米铜颗粒的种间毒性关系

纳米颗粒的种间毒性关系尚无明确结论,因此很难判断纳米颗粒对未进行毒性测试的物种的风险如何。本文作者将5种水蚤(Daphnia magna, Daphnia pulex, Daphnia galeata, Ceriodaphnia dubia, Chydorus sphaericus)暴露于4种不同粒径的纳米铜颗粒(CuNPs)和1种亚微米铜颗粒的悬浊液中,考察物种的形态特征与CuNPs急性毒性的关系。结果显示,杆状的CuNPs比球状的CuNPs毒性更低。纳米铜颗粒与溶出铜离子均对CuNPs的毒性有贡献,其中,当新生蚤的体长、体表面积和身体体积更小时,5种悬浊液中颗粒的毒性更大。5种蚤的身体体积与5种CuNPs的毒性显著相关(r_adj²>0.51, p < 0.001),78-nm CuNPs与蚤身体体积的相关性最好 (r_adj²?=?0.95, p < 0.001)。这个研究可以为纳米颗粒对有相似外形特征的物种进行毒性种间外推提供线索。
精选自Lan Song, Martina G. Vijver, Geert R. de Snoo and Willie J.G.M. Peijnenburg. Assessing toxicity of copper nanoparticles across five cladoceran species. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry: Volume 34, Issue 8, pages 1744–1750, August 2015. DOI: 10.1002/etc.3000
详情请见http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/etc.3000/full     

基于非本地物种毒性数据推导出的水质基准可为本地物种提供适当保护吗？

基于非本地物种的毒性数据推导出的水质基准一直存在争议,质疑者提出应有针对不同生物区系的水质基准。而这个问题在中国尤为突出。本文作者搜集了38种污染物对本地物种和非本地物种的毒性数据,比较了这些生物的HC₅和物种敏感度分布,结果显示,基于非本地物种推导的水质基准有74%的确定性可以有效保护中国的水生态系统。如果采用评价因子(AF=5)来校正基准,那么可以获得90%的确定性。
精选自Xiaowei Jin, Zijian Wang, Yeyao Wang, Yibing Lv, Kaifeng Rao, Wei Jin, John P. Giesy and Kenneth M. Y. Leung. Do water quality criteria based on nonnative species provide appropriate protection for native species? Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry: Volume 34, Issue 8, pages 1744–1750, August 2015. DOI: 10.1002/etc.2985
详情请见http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/etc.2985/full     

基于风险分析的流域优先有机污染物筛查:方法构建

化学品的大量使用和排放进入水环境,对水生态系统产生诸多不利影响。因此,流域环境管理的重点之一就是如何筛查具有潜在风险的优先污染物。对于流域环境介质中污染物筛查而言,难点和关键是如何建立高效的分析方法来尽可能多的获取环境介质中的污染物信息,进而对其危害及风险水平进行判断与筛查。对在流域环境介质中污染物筛查方面具有潜在应用可能性的环境分析方法进行了综述,提出了以高通量分析方法为基础的基于概率风险分析的流域优先有机污染物筛查方法体系,并对体系中涉及的筛查基准、数据选择等关键问题进行了讨论。     

醋酸铅对大鼠胰岛瘤细胞INS-1自噬与凋亡的影响

为了研究环境中常见重金属污染物铅对大鼠胰岛瘤细胞INS-1自噬与凋亡的影响及其可能的分子机制,使用不同浓度醋酸铅暴露大鼠胰岛瘤细胞INS-1,利用磺酰罗丹明B(sulforhodamine B,SRB)法检测细胞存活率;Western blot法检测不同浓度醋酸铅对细胞中自噬与凋亡标志蛋白及哺乳动物雷帕霉素靶蛋白(mammalian target of rapamycin,mTOR)信号通路标志分子表达的影响;利用活性氧(reactive oxygen species,ROS)试剂盒检测细胞内ROS水平;用ROS清除剂N-乙酰-L-半胱氨酸(N-acetylcysteine,NAC)预处理细胞,检测醋酸铅引起的细胞自噬与凋亡是否受到影响。使用统计学软件SPSS 17.0对数据进行统计学分析后,与对照组相比,醋酸铅导致INS-1细胞的存活率下降(p0.05),且呈时间-剂量依赖性;随醋酸铅浓度增大,自噬和凋亡标志蛋白表达增加,mTOR信号途径标志分子没有明显变化;NAC预处理后醋酸铅引起的细胞自噬和凋亡减少。实验结果表明,醋酸铅可通过mTOR-非依赖途径诱导INS-1细胞的自噬与凋亡,其可能机制为刺激细胞内ROS的产生。     

Molecular modeling in environmental science∗

Quantum mechanic computer models are often used in chemistry to predict properties of molecules and to simulate reaction pathways. Such models calculate bond lengths, bond angles, dihedral angles, the energy of the molecular‐orbitals (MO's), the dipole moment, the ionisation potential, and the heat of formation. These results lead to detailed information on electronic structures like bond orders, electronic charges and levels of frontier orbitals (HOMO, LUMO).

It is possible to calculate properties of ground state molecules as well as ionic and radicalic structures, or reaction intermediates and other compounds with very short lifetimes.

From the exact knowledge of electronic structure, frontier orbitals, and reaction intermediates it is possible to predict stability of chemicals in the environment but also of fictive chemicals, which are not yet synthesized. Some authors have shown that there are correlations between electronic structure and toxicity.

The most interesting models for environmental chemistry are semiempirical models, such as MINDO, MNDO or MOPAC. Theses programs are able to handle molecules with 30 and more heavy atoms (all elements without hydrogen), and it is possible to install them on main frame computers (CPU‐time several minutes to hours) and on personal computers, with coprocessors (CPU‐time several hours to a few days).

Normally the molecule is read in from a Z‐matrix (a matrix of polar coordinates of atoms connected in the molecule) and with symmetry data. Furthermore, programs are available which create a Z‐matrix from the molecular structure plotted on the screen with a mouse.     

DNA fragmentation,apoptosis and cell cycle arrest induced by sodium arsenite in cultured murine Sertoli cells: prevention by curcumin

Arsenic is a significant environmental concern worldwide, primarily due to geo physiochemical contamination of drinking water, and a major public health hazard in both developing and developed countries. The present study was aimed to investigate ameliorative effects of curcumin (Cur) against sodium arsenite (SA)-induced toxicity in cultured murine Sertoli cells. The cells were treated with SA (5 μM) and Cur (5 μg/ml and 10 μg/ml) alone or in combination for 12 hr. The SA treatment decreased cell viability, produced oxidative stress, and induced apoptosis as reflected by reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, loss of mitochondrial transmembrane potential, DNA fragmentation, and apoptotic cells. Moreover, the SA-induced cell cycle arrest in the cells is characterized by a rise in the number of cells in the sub G1 phase of the cell cycle. The Cur was found to be effective in reversing all these arsenic (As)-induced cellular events. Data suggest that Cur modulates As-mediated oxidative stress, apoptosis, DNA fragmentation, and cell cycle arrest through suppression of excessive ROS generation. Evidence indicates that Cur may emerge as a useful protective agent against As-induced Sertoli cells toxicity by inhibiting As-induced damage in testes.